Are you ready for President Schwarzenegger?

posted at 6:01 pm on October 18, 2013 by Allahpundit

I fully expect to be blogging dumb “Will Arnold run?” items in 2028, when he’ll be 81 years old.

If you wanted proof that even big-name newspapers struggle for content on painfully slow Fridays, look no further. And before you start reading, ask yourself: What do they mean that he’s “lobbying for support” to change the Natural Born Clause? Who is he lobbying? Thirty-eight different state legislatures? And no one anywhere has said anything?

Action star and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been lobbying for support to change the law to allow him to run for president in 2016, Page Six has exclusively learned…

One source said: “Schwarzenegger has been talking openly about working on getting the constitutional rules changed so he can run for president in 2016. He is ready to file legal paperwork to challenge the rules.”

Arnie was born in Austria, and the US Constitution prevents foreign-born citizens from holding the nation’s top job. Any amendment to the Constitution must be approved by two-thirds majority in the House and the Senate…

Columbia University Law School professor Michael Dorf, an expert in constitutional law, said about the Governator’s case in 2007, “The law is very clear, but it’s not 100 percent clear that the courts would enforce that law rather than leave it to the political process.”

Ace has a nice quickie explainer on why this is absurd, from the messy personal scandals involving a love child to the disappointing futility of Ahnuld’s governorship to the fact that he ended up being much more of a John McCain Republican, scolding the right about global warming, than the proto-tea-partier many righties thought he’d be in office. Beyond all that, just in terms of simple logistics, paint me a picture in which Arnold Schwarzenegger somehow emerges as a serious contender for the GOP nomination amid a roster with people like Christie, Paul, Rubio, Walker, Jindal, Cruz, and maybe Jeb Bush in it. What would be the selling point? If he was going to be the dark-horse deus ex machina who rescues the party from the agony of a weak field, last year was obviously the year to try. But that just gets us back to Ace’s point: Given the many litmus tests he’s failed (this is a guy who, while claiming to believe in traditional marriage, personally performed two gay weddings while he was governor), could he have beaten even Romney? If he had achieved something significant as governor of California a la Scott Walker in beating the unions to roll back collective bargaining for public employees, he might have been a juggernaut — big name who brought conservatism to the very same blue state formerly governed by Ronald Reagan. Instead, he’s the ultimate What Might Have Been guy. Meh.

But, having said all that (and because it’s one of my dopey pet ideas), what if he ran third-party instead of running as a Republican? The one thing an independent presidential candidate needs, even more than money, is name recognition. And there’s no semi-plausible indie candidate in all of America with as much of that as Arnold. He also happens to be chummy with probably the one man who has the money and maybe the inclination to singlehandedly bankroll a centrist independent presidential bid, by which of course I mean Mike Bloomberg. Most hypothetical third-party candidates will be marginal enough come 2016 that they can be safely strongarmed out of the debates, but the guy who used to play the Terminator before he got elected governor of America’s biggest state and who happens to have lots of his own money and money from his rich friends at his disposal to fund a run won’t be one of them. Ahnuld could get a foot in the door and his inevitable anti-Washington, anti-gridlock “time for new solutions” centrist message could get a little traction given the extent of public disaffection. In fact, a quick search of our archives reminds me that he endorsed Charlie Crist in the 2010 Florida Senate race five months after Crist had renounced his Republican Party affiliation. That was in October 2010, when Crist had already faded badly behind Rubio, so Arnold gained nothing from it except the vicarious re-branding that came from pointedly backing someone who’d left the party. This is, I guess, the way he wants people to see him now — as an independent. And yeah, there’s a little space for a candidacy like that in 2016. Emphasis on “a little.”

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If it’s foreign-born, I nominate Stephen Harper, Canada’s PM. Look what he’s quietly accomplished while President Petulant is acting out his latest “It’s all about me” drama. Let’s even use the normally unfriendly Canada Broadcasting Corporation as our source:

He’s not eligible. I mean really not eligible. Why is anyone even talking about this? Listing all the other reasons “why not” seems silly.

One source said: “Schwarzenegger has been talking openly about working on getting the constitutional rules changed so he can run for president in 2016. He is ready to file legal paperwork to challenge the rules.”

Because we know the GOP will garner about 0% of that newly-enfranchised voter bloc, and they’re going to need every Latino voter distraction they can get ever to elect a national-level candidate again.

Well, heere’s Arnie! In the 2003 (the Gov. Gray Davis recall election), Schwarzenegger won 30% of the Latino vote (vs. 52% for the Democrat and actual Latino Cruz Bustamante) in the California gubernatorial election.

In 2006, he increased his percentage to 39% of Latinos to win re-election as governor.

Even Romney won about 23% of the Latino vote in the 2012 presidential election. So take that as the Republican “floor,” add to that Arnie’s share, and you leave the Democrat candidate with roughly 38% of the Latino vote in the next presidential election. Could make a difference. Go, Arnie, go!

That’s good enough on a CV to be Prez. Heck, after the current wanker in the WH who has nothing other than rabble rousing to his credit, Arnie looks good. At least Arnie could bench a few pounds. Barf, on the other hand, has about enough juice to operate a remote control on the sports channel….. loser.

No. Better to have Christie. Or Hillary.
Or, for that matter, who we got now. Seriously.

I’m in CA, an I remember it started back in ’04 whwn we thought Arnold S was an actual Republican, though we felt his marriage to the uber-liberal whats her name was a bit suspect. Sure enough, he progressively become more progressive, until he was indistinguishable from the worst of the Democrat. His crowning achievement, pushing leftist global warming everyday of the week and signing in to law a cap & trade scheme (the only one in the nation) that is just starting now but if left unhindered will take a serious bite out of the economy of this state, as energy prices skyrocket and businesses get the heck out of here.

If I remember right, the Stallone/Snipes movie “Demolition Man” mentions a President Schwarzenegger.

CableDude on October 18, 2013 at 6:18 PM

It sure did. That movie was eerily prophetic. It envisioned California becoming a two-class society with rich, elitist nanny staters ruling over a bunch of poor, starving lower class individuals who are literally forced into an underground economy. Plus the state is overrun with political correctness and the banning of things like cigarettes and guns.

Schwarzenegger has something we see a lot in Democratic Presidential candidates — the Clintons, Obama — but rarely Republicans: Folks kept voting for him in droves, even after they hated what he did in office. Electability is a powerful draw. That said:

It already happened, if you saw The Simpsons Movie.

That wasn’t the first place the scenario was fictionally realized. But it’s this Simpsons quote that springs to mind:

“This is the greatest country in the world. We’ve got a whole system set up to prevent people like you from ever becoming president. Quit your daydreaming, melonhead!”

If he were eligible he would be very unlikely to be the Republican nominee, but I’m glad he’s raising a fuss on the matter. I would still like to see the constitution changed to allow people who aren’t natural born citizens to run for President.

The requirement may have made sense early in the country’s history when there was a concern that outrageously wealthy Europeans might somehow buy their way into the office. But now it just limits the choices of the voters.

It sure did. That movie was eerily prophetic. It envisioned California becoming a two-class society with rich, elitist nanny staters ruling over a bunch of poor, starving lower class individuals who are literally forced into an underground economy. Plus the state is overrun with political correctness and the banning of things like cigarettes and guns.

Doughboy on October 18, 2013 at 6:41 PM

not really prophetic, that was cali in 1993, the movie just took it to the logical extreme it is headed to.

If people delved into his background and his record as governor of California they’d laugh him off the stage. The only reason he thinks he might get away with it is that he has the ego of a “Hollywood Star” ( enormous, monumental, unrealistically huge) and after the United States elected an admitted pot smoking, cocaine using party boy to the presidency he figured why not an adulterous buffoon who used his position of authority to impregnate his house maid.

amendment to the Constitution must be approved by two-thirds majority in the House and the Senate…

Not to mention pass the states…

Funny how libs forget that.

Columbia University Law School professor Michael Dorf, an expert in constitutional law, said about the Governator’s case in 2007, “The law is very clear, but it’s not 100 percent clear that the courts would enforce that law rather than leave it to the political process.”

Actually, throughout the primaries and general election, Romney campaigned against amnesty, unlike Perry and Newt.

Hispandering Newt called Romney’s position racist, and Perry said anyone who didn’t give in-state benefits to illegals “had no heart.”

Sorry to confuse you with facts.

bluegill on October 18, 2013 at 7:08 PM

you and facts are incompatible. perry gave in-state tuition rates to illegals. not a benefit. and the legislature voted overwhelming in favor of it. as for Romney, his “position” was another case of his flip flopping on an issue

and his “…not granting amnesty…” is very compatible w/ McCain’s position since they refuse to admit their policy is amnesty.

perry constantly tried to get the feds to police th border while he has been governor. never once has he quibbled on the question of amnesty.

I never would have supported Romney if he had been for amnesty. Paul Ryan is now dead to me.

Romney was the obvious choice (Newt? Santorum? Perry? Cain???), but his general election campaign was abysmal. The GOTV effort was an embarrassment.

This time we potentially have better conservative choices. I like Rand and I love Cruz.

We shall see about Martinez and Jindal.

Walker, Christie, Jeb and Pence are all no-gos due to their positions on amnesty.

bluegill on October 18, 2013 at 7:13 PM

rand is a squish on immigration. you are about as un-informed as can be. he wants to eliminate e-verify and increase the amount of visas. that will led to cries of “2nd class citizen” which will be the argument for citizenship. he’s trying to go in the back door, create a situation where he can say “well, we should do this, it’s the right thing”

as for Romney right choice, reality has proven you very wrong. no need to discuss anymore. you sound pathetic when you continue to beat that drum, kinda like the way Romney got beaten by the libs.

Columbia University Law School professor Michael Dorf, an expert in constitutional law, said about the Governator’s case in 2007, “The law is very clear, but it’s not 100 percent clear that the courts would enforce that law rather than leave it to the political process.”

Disagree.

ladyingray on October 18, 2013 at 7:20 PM

i’m thinking he is referring to “standing” the catch-all courts use when they don’t want to decide something. however, it will be hard to argue a political party/campaign/candidate doesn’t have standing to sue Arnold’s campaign

Now we have foreign born Ted Cruz with one American parent qualifying, why not a naturalized citizen?

JannyMae

What’s this “now” stuff? The concept of being an American at birth when born abroad with one American parent didn’t begin with Ted Cruz. It’s been the law for quite some time. How many American parents did Ahnold have?

The natural born clause is a good safeguard. The proof of that is look at the current menace in the White House who the clause was meant to prohibit from office. It’s like the Founders were clairvoyent.

Looks like the steroids have finally come full circle.Narcissistic personality disorder. we already have one of those in the WH, thank you very much!!! He’s a ass and everyone knows he is an ass..one of his buddies was talking the other day about how he has a harem of “ladies” that service him at this house..coming and going at all hours..he needs sex multiple times a day…

Um. Are we to presume that since obunghole and the organized criminal syndicate called the democrat party have shredded the Constitution already that it is no longer a factor in our governance? If that’s the case, we might as well hang it up and dissolve our republic. At this point, that may be the best course of action anyway. At least some states would remain free and prosperous. Guess I’ll have to get used to hot weather since we’d be moving to Texas.

…after the United States elected an admitted pot smoking, cocaine using party boy to the presidency he figured why not an adulterous buffoon who used his position of authority to impregnate his house maid.

thatsafactjack on October 18, 2013 at 7:15 PM

…after the United States elected an admitted pot smoking, cocaine using party boy to the presidency he figured why not

That part ALSO applies to Arnold S. as it does to Obama.

Name something, Schwarzenegger has surely already done it. Not just the maid.

I think this ‘news’ is more about Schwarzenegger’s need for publicity than anything else.

And it points out to the rest of us the dereliction of duty by politicians today as to enforcement of laws. That there’d even be this issue of a naturalized citizen thinking he COULD “change the COnstitution” to make him legitimate to/in the Presidency is proof that it’s accepted that Obama ISN’T legally qualified (he’s acknowledged as having violated that requirement and it not being enforced though most will deny they question his legitimacy, most seem to assume he’s not legitimate).

Schwarzenegger’s physical health also calls into question his ability to hold such office (Executive Branch). Not going to be any more specific than that but he’s had severe repairs to his body and of such a type that they require ongoing repairs. And are life-affecting of about as serious a level as there is.

Schwarzenegger’s physical health also calls into question his ability to hold such office (Executive Branch). Not going to be any more specific than that but he’s had severe repairs to his body and of such a type that they require ongoing repairs. And are life-affecting of about as serious a level as there is.

Lourdes on October 19, 2013 at 3:42 AM

Those horrific scars on the back of Obama’s skull have never been explained. He blew off requests for health records with a little letter from a doctor saying “he’s just fine”.

Is anyone else getting the Demolition Man reference here?Lenina Huxley: I have, in fact, perused some newsreels in the Schwarzenegger Library, and the time that you took that car…JohnSpartan: Hold it. The Schwarzenegger Library?Lenina Huxley: Yes. The Schwarzenegger Presidential Library. Wasn’t he an actor when you…?JohnSpartan: Stop! He was President?Lenina Huxley: Yes! Even though he was not born in this country, his popularity at the time caused the 61st Amendment which states…JohnSpartan: I don’t wanna know. President…

I do not hold his ineffectiveness as California Governor against him. He may have been, initially, of a “conservative” bent or whatever, but his election was founded on a few particular issues (imo, since he was not my Governor) and did not represent a wave of voter mood that would overcome the impediments in his way.

Some people may dig in their heels and go down shouting while others see the handwriting on the wall and just try to get along with the dominant political environment perhaps picking the odd fight when they think they have some reasonable chance at winning.

In any case, the chances of getting a constitutional amendment and having it ratified before the filing deadlines for the States for the 2016 Presidential would be nil.